


Distraction Sufficient

by ky old RK stuff (kuroiyousei)



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Canon Setting, Introspection, M/M, Major character death (referred to), POV: Sano, Pining, Queer Sano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-09-12
Updated: 2004-09-12
Packaged: 2020-06-23 16:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19704955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuroiyousei/pseuds/ky%20old%20RK%20stuff
Summary: Sano finally admits how he feels about Saitou, perhaps only because to do so is conveniently distracting.





	Distraction Sufficient

It was with a peculiar sort of indifferent abandon that Sano allowed his thoughts for the first time ever down a path wherefrom they had previously been emphatically banned, and it was a surprise how short that path was before the destination _I love him_ was reached. 

He was astounded. _I **love** him?_ he wondered. _That's a pretty hefty thing to have been denying all this time!_

He couldn't help but think it _had_ been 'all this time,' or at least something close to it, as he certainly couldn't have fallen in love recently. One didn't fall in love with absent men. And though he couldn't trace it _quite_ as far back as the shoulder-stabbing, he felt it must have been present for some time without his noticing or at least admitting it. 

The fight in the street had procured his attention and his desire to impress, the endless reflections on the way to Kyoto had solidified that... the jail, perhaps, had been the beginning, the _Rengoku_ the confirmation, and after that it had just become steadily stronger and stronger and, as a consequence, more deeply repressed. It had almost surfaced in the smoke and dust of that protracted battle of many enemies when he'd first laid eyes on him again after believing him dead for so long, but Sano had been too steadfast in his denial to allow that. 

It was liberating, really, to make a clean breast, even if only with himself. It was a relief to allow that the reason he'd been so inexplicably, so _drastically_ horrified in that burning fortress had not been merely the unnecessary loss of a strong ally. He felt a strange and unexpected clear-headedness, as if in being honest with himself he had suddenly simplified the whole world. He loved Saitou, and he didn't even mind thinking about it. 

Too bad he wouldn't be seeing him again. Hokkaido, was that it? He thought that was what he remembered Kenshin saying. Well, it didn't matter... Hokkaido or America or the moon; it made no difference now. 

He wondered what Saitou would say about his current situation. Surely the wolf would have nothing but contempt for Tani, but Sano doubted his concern would extend as far as a stupid rooster that had made the pig mad. But Saitou, having been transferred, wouldn't even _know_ , so wondering if he would _care_ was rather extravagant. 

Still, Sano didn't bother to stop himself imagining nice things that might have been. It wasn't likely they _would_ have been, but he'd met stranger couples. And in all honesty, he didn't really think Saitou had hated him as much as he'd pretended. Maybe they could have been happy... 

It was interesting he'd chosen to delve into this issue when he had nowhere near enough time to do so thoroughly. Perhaps it was because Saitou, and the fact that Sano loved Saitou, and the idea that if he'd realized it sooner things might have been different, was pleasantly, absorbingly distracting. 

That was what Saitou would say, he realized belatedly -- "You should have learned to defend yourself." And surely he should have, or should, at the very least, have been quicker in his attempt to flee the country. He laughed weakly. 

He wondered if, were it possible for Saitou to know of this anomaly of being simultaneously first and last in Sano's thoughts, he would appreciate it. 

First because Sano loved him more than he might have been able to express even had he had the chance. 

Last because they were fitting the noose around his neck even now. 

He closed his eyes, and burning gold was all he could see.


End file.
